Paper Flowers
by svvya
Summary: For the 30Flowers Lj community. 30 stories all centering around the AkixGure pairing and inspired by the meaning of a flower. Ch2: Tulips: Declaration of love. Akito always hated her birthday until she recieved a special present.
1. Orchid: Beauty: Eye of Beholder

**Title:** Eye of the Beholder  
**Theme:** 12: Orchid  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fruits Basket  
**A/N:**So, here's my first story (ever!) where Akito is not the antagonist. I know, I know, you're wondering what the world is coming to, but I love the AkixGure pairing and I like writing about damaged people (haha). So bear with me, but I think I got them down pretty well. I wanted to show a side of Akito that's a bit different, and I don't really know how many people write about the part of her that wants to be seen as a woman, so here's the result. Enjoy!

--

It was Akito Sohma's secret desire to be beautiful. The thing she wanted more than anything else in the world was to be able to look like a woman; to have people stare at her (like she _knew_ they stared at her wretched mother) and love her or hate her instantly because she was utterly beautiful.

But the Goddess knew she wasn't beautiful. She didn't think she was even vaguely attractive. That was why she decided she had to know what she would look like if she was. She wanted to know the feeling of being sexy, attractive, or even just pretty.

There was only one way Akito could think of achieving her goal, but it wasn't going to be easy. She wouldn't even consider it if she didn't know what else to do. But since it seemed to be her only option, she ordered her mother's servants to keep Ren busy for the day somewhere away from Sohma property, and she told Kureno to leave the property for the day as well.

The only person Akito knew who owned those revealing, tight clothes that always made the wearer look attractive was, as much as Akito hated to admit it, her mother. Ren Sohma always looked like she would do- ahem- anything for a man, and for some reason that made men want to fall all over her.

Maybe she would have understood it if she was raised like an actual woman.

Having all of this in her mind, Akito snuck to her mother's room after she was sure Ren was gone and no one would catch her. Akito's heart was pounding as she padded to her mother's room, she was afraid of being caught, but also a little excited to go on this adventure. She was going to get to fulfill her desire, after all.

Just as she had expected, Ren's closet was full of everything Akito was never allowed to have. It was full of dresses, furisode kimonos, tight-fitting shirts, and miniskirts. Akito hardly had time to ponder why a woman who never went anywhere would have so many clothes while she tried to decide what to wear.

The young woman finally chose a little black dress that looked like it was made for someone in their twenties, her own age. Akito felt so awkward wearing a dress that she didn't dare look in a mirror. Besides, there was still something she had to put on: makeup. It was another thing she was, of course, completely ignorant about.

Ren's dresser was littered with eyeliner pencils, tubes of lipstick, and compacts that held blush and eye shadow, and, while Akito knew the gist of everything spread before her, she didn't know how to use any of it.

But in her quest to look and feel beautiful, ignorance wasn't going to stop Akito from trying.

She used a small mirror in one of the compacts to apply some randomly selected lipstick and the eyeliner and mascara. After a few painful pokes in the eye with the mascara brush and one instance of hearing footsteps near the door (during which Akito dashed into the closet to hide- someone catching her doing this would ruin the respect, or fear, people had for her. Luckily the person, whoever it was, passed), Akito felt she was finished, with, hopefully, some success.

The next step was, naturally, to look at herself. She didn't have to search very hard to find the one on the inside of the bathroom door. With bated breath, Akito flipped on the bathroom light and looked at herself.

The effect was considerably less than she had hoped for. To cut the polite crap, she looked, instead of beautiful, even more hideous than before.

The first thing she noticed was her face. It wasn't a pretty sight. The makeup excursion had gone terribly awry. The lipstick was too dark for Akito's face and it made her lips look like a red gash against her pale skin. Her eyes, too, stood out unpleasantly on her white skin. The eyeliner uplayed the natural darkness of her eyes and made them look like dark, gaping holes. The mascara didn't make her eyelashes look longer or fuller, they just looked clumped together.

The dress wasn't any better. It didn't hug her in any of the right places, not that she had much of anything to fill it out with. Her stark white skin contrasted with the black dress and made her look like a ghost or vampire. The short sleeves of the dress hugged her upper arms tightly and showed how skinny her arms were.

The effect of the whole thing was, in Akito's opinion, was not pleasant.

While she stared at herself, a sudden revelation hit her: She could never be beautiful. She was always under the impression that if she just had the right tools she could improve her appearance, but this proved that theory wrong.

No one would ever see her as beautiful, as a woman, because when she even _tried_, the result was a disaster.

It was enough to want to make Akito break down and cry, so she did.

She held back any tears until she went back into the main room of her mother's tiny living area, sat on the edge of the bed. Then she started to sob. Since there was no one to see her, she didn't try to restrain herself.

Akito cried to for the selfish desire that would never be fulfilled, and for everything she could never be seen as.

"Akito?" Akito didn't have to look up to know who said her name, and she didn't have to be a genius to know that she would never live this down. This was even more mortifying than if anyone else was standing at the door, because, although she would never admit it, the man undoubtedly staring at her was the one she had most wanted to look beautiful for.

She should have heard Shigure's footsteps, but she was crying too hard to notice anything. "What are you doing here? What are you wearing?"

And yet, in her present state, Akito couldn't think of any way to answer the Dog's question except with the truth. "Is it so wrong," she said between sobs, "to want to look beautiful for once? B-but even when I try, still look- look- look hideous. So g-go ahead. Say something cruel to me like… like always and leave me alone."

There was no answer, but Akito felt the mattress sink under Shigure's weight as he sat down on the bed next to her.

After a few minutes, during which Akito tried to without success to compose herself, Shigure pulled her hand away from her face, and then tipped her face up toward his. Shigure's expression was gravely serious while he wiped her face with the sleeve of his kimono and said, "You don't know, Akito? You always look beautiful." A small smile flickered over her face, but it wasn't joking or sarcastic, only affectionate.

"You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen."

Between all of Shigure's teasing and horrible comments, there were rare moments like these that made all of it seem worthwhile. Whenever he said something kind, it was always exactly what Akito needed to hear.

Shigure wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly to him. Akito pressed her face against his chest and sniffled quietly. "Do you really think I'm beautiful?" She mumbled into the fabric of his kimono.

Shigure chuckled lightly, but still said, "Akito, dear, let's not get conceited now, but, " he planted a kiss on the top of her head, "I do."

Beauty, she decided, must be in the eye of the beholder, but for the first time in her life, Akito actually did feel beautiful.


	2. Tulip:Delcaration of Love:Hidden Meaning

**Title:** Hidden Meaning  
**Theme:** 5: Declaration of Love  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fruits Basket  
**A/N:** Here's chapter 2. The next probably will not be so light-hearted. Also, if anyone has any requests/suggestions for AkixGure situations they would like to see, please tell me. I will probably be able to incorporate it in some way.  
Thank you so much to everyone who replied on the last chapter! Enjoy this one!

--

To some people, birthdays are a time of celebration and joy, but Akito Sohma had always seen her birthday as just another day. This particular birthday was no exception. She had lived another 365 days, no big deal, right?

There was the usual influx of gifts from her Zodiac, probably just gifts they felt they were required to give. They were all things she didn't really want or need. All of the presents were just pushed into the corner until...

"Akito, someone sent you flowers." Kureno entered the room with a large bunch of tulips in his arms. Tulips? Why of all things would someone sell her tulips?

"Who are they from?" Akito snapped. Her 'special day' had gotten her in a bad mood.

"Ah, I'm not sure, but I think there's a card." Kureno then said something or other about going to find a vase, put the tulips down, and left the room again.

Akito sighed and glared at the flowers. The bright pinks, reds, and yellows of the flowers were the only real source of brightness in the otherwise gloomy room. She plucked a card pinned to one of the flowers and read:

_Dearest Akito,_

_What do tulips mean? When you know the answer, you'll know why I sent these to you._

_Yours truly,  
Shigure_

Akito closed the card and tossed it back onto the flowers. What a novelist thing of the Dog to do. He just _had_ to hide a secret message in her present, didn't he?

"Kureno," she asked the man when he returned, "do you have a computer?"

--

Once it had been decided that Akito would use Hatori's computer, and after she figured out how to work the thing and open the Internet, she stared at the Google homepage and tried to figure out what to search for. She didn't know what sort of things the computer would respond to, seeing as she had never used one before

_What do tulips mean?_

She drummed her fingers on the desk the computer sat on and sighed. If this was some sort of trick, Shigure would pay. Finally, feeling a little stupid, Akito typed in the offending question.

_What do tulips mean?_

She jabbed the enter button and read through the ensuing results. After scanning them, she clicked on a website that looked promising: 1001 Flowers and Their Meanings.

Akito scrolled down the seemingly endless list of flowers until her eyes blurred from the computerized text. Finally, there, under Tiger lilies was the meaning if Tulips.

When the goddess read the line, an uncharacteristic smile flitted over her face and she actually glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one else was in the room. She was relieved that she had told Kureno and Hatori to stay out of the room, because she was sure a blush was creeping into her cheeks. Wow. This was some birthday present. It was something that she actually wanted for once. Who ever thought Shigure would be so romantic?

Now a new question arose: How did she respond?

Akito wasn't one for saying sappy, romantic things, and Shigure must have known that when he gave her the flowers. Was he even expecting her to do something back? She should probably thank him somehow...

So, after about five minutes of thinking, stressing, and being afraid of doing something stupid, Akito finally ripped a memo note off a pad near the computer, grabbed a nearby pen, and scribbled down a note. She folded it up and closed out the Internet window, then took a deep breath, set her face into it's normal emotionless mask, and left the room.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Akito nodded stiffly in answer to Kureno's question and tightened her grip on the paper in her hand. "Are you feeling alright? You're face a a little pink."

"I'm fine." Actually, she as more than fine. Shigure's present was so perfect that the thought of her being sick right then was almost laughable. "Kureno, call Shigure and tell him to come here _immediately_." She had a to talk to him.

--

Shigure ambled down the hall of the main house toward Akito's room. Kureno said that she had something to talk to him about, so he wasn't rushing. Since it was her birthday she was probably in a bad mood, and she was probably angry about his hidden message present. He had thought it would be nice, but she wouldn't want to do all that work to find out the Tulips' meaning.

When he reached Akito's room, he knocked softly on the door and slid it open. "Akito?" He glanced around the room and saw the flowers he sent in a vase, and Akito sitting next to them.

"Oh, good," She said. From her tone, Shigure couldn't tell if she was pleased or upset, "you're here." She grabbed one of the flowers, sprang up, and strode over to him. She pushed the flower and a folded piece of paper into his hand, and then forced him backward out of the room. "Now go."

"Uh, happy birthday?" Shigure said uncertainly as she slammed the door in his face. If he didn't know better, he would have sworn Akito was blushing.

He unfolded the paper and as he read the messy note a smile spread over his face. Who ever thought Akito could be so romantic?

_Tulips: A decleration of love. Now here's a tulip for you.  
Yours,  
Akito_


End file.
